How to Break A Thrifting Slump

If there’s one thing that’s true about this thrifting game, is that there’s not a whole lot of consistency. This can be good for some of us (me! me!) that get bored quickly and don’t do well with routines.
The finds are either feast or famine and the sales seem to go that way too.

I’ve told you about my future plans and my (half-hearted) attempt at slowing down the acquisition end of this business. But I’ve come to a very important conclusion.

I *NEED* to thrift!!

News flash! lol. No, I’m serious. I’ve determined that it’s the thrifting that keeps me going. It’s a reward system if you will. The excitement of the hunt and the find (yay!) carries over to the listing process. That excitement makes me want to get my finds out there and shared!! And hopefully sold!

Without that treasure hunt…I slow down in every other aspect of this business. I lose my mojo.

What I’ve found is also important…is finding GOOD stuff.

In the last few months I haven’t strayed much from my regular thrifting routine. There’s a Goodwill next to my grocery store…so that gets hit at least once a week. Also once a week, I run down a few towns over to my closest Value Village…which also has a Goodwill across the street. That’s generally what I have time for each week. And I love me my Value Village.
There’s one more Goodwill that’s about 1/2 hour away in another direction. It used to be my favorite, but it’s been pretty disappointing lately so I generally only go out there every 2 weeks…or sometimes just once a month.

But I’ve been SO BORED!

Believe me, I manage to find some things. But nothing super exciting. Nothing to get your heart pounding as you approach the shelf or bag wall. I know I can’t have home runs every week…but I was getting tired of seeing the same stuff every week.

I knew I needed to thrift out of my ZONE and see some fresh merchandise. I was plotting and planning and trying to figure out how to get out of town….lol…when the perfect opportunity came up!

We went up north about 3 hours to the area we’d like to move to and spent the afternoon house hunting. But in the MORNING…while the boys were running errands with Hubby…I got to hit another Value Village. I spent about 2 hours there and it was so satisfying. One more Goodwill in the evening and I was flying high. I called it research for moving. Ahem, yes, research.
Just to know that everything in the store was stuff you hadn’t seen before…and had potential…was so much fun.

I can’t say I had any huge home runs…but I managed to find a few things in my main niches.

Jewelry
This Value Village had TONS of jewelry. And most of it was out and available…not locked in the case.Here’s what I found. A few of the names: Monet, Samuel Huang (the totem looking earrings…not the best buy…my memory failed me on that one…but you win some you lose some) Mizpah, Jorgen Jensen (the cuff links!), Bergere, Deauville, some 80s wonders. The bow shaped earrings inside the red Monet necklace are marked KJL: Kenneth Jay Lane. And the heart earrings just below that are Givenchy believe it or not.

So. Nothing so exciting this time but we live ON these types of finds and sales.

Flatware

Yay! I found flatware. My thrifts have been fairly dry in this department…not that I NEED more flatware to list…but again…I need the thrill to get me listing flatware again! I found one nice biggish bag that has some Oneida Twin Star flatware pieces and some good Ikea pieces. (Not all Ikea is great to sell…but there’s one pattern I keep my eyes out for and this bag has a few).
What I’m planning on doing in my next post is unbagging these flatware finds and letting you see exactly what’s there and how I’ll probably list them. Sound like a plan?

So as you can see, I did stay in my niches for the most part…Here are 2 of the outside-the-niche items…but the fabric can nicely get added to the bins of fabric I procrastinate on listing and the cheeky Starbucks mug is a super easy list.

Oh and I almost forgot! I found this necktie. It’s from the late 1930s and it’s practically already sold through a Facebook group. Isn’t it lovely?

So how about you? How is the thrifting in your area? Do you hit slumps?
How do you handle them? Ever do a thrifting road trip? Comment below!

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6 thoughts on “How to Break A Thrifting Slump”

I agree that without some sourcing listing becomes harder and harder though I definitely do not need to add more to my unlisted piles!

I recently attended a brilliant community sale where there was so much variety that I do not usually see at least all at one time. The only downside in those situations is that you can only physically handle so much stuff at a time. No shopping carts available!

Good luck listing your new finds and here is to a bit of shopping to keep you going.